Why the study?
Does acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) prevent venous thromboembolism in patients at high-risk of VTE?
Does acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) prevent venous thromboembolism in patients at high-risk of VTE?
ASA is effective for VTE prophylaxis compared to placebo but may be less effective than low molecular weight heparins, highlighting the need for large contemporary trials.
ASA may be considered versus placebo for VTE prophylaxis when LMWH unavailable; leaves open need for large contemporary RCTs.
Guidelines differ on whether acetyl salicylic acid (ASA, aspirin) should be used for prophylaxis in patients at high-risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), principally because of differences in perceptions of its efficacy. ASA is an attractive therapeutic option because it is inexpensive, easy to administer and does not require monitoring. We critically reappraised the evidence from randomized controlled trials for the efficacy of ASA in VTE prevention. ASA is clearly efficacious in preventing VTE compared to placebo or no treatment, but appears to be less efficacious than the low molecular weight heparins in small trials. There is little data for ASA in comparison with unfractionated heparin and warfarin. A large randomized controlled trial is required to clarify the role of ASA compared to contemporary anticoagulant strategies for the prevention of VTE.
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Karthikeyan et al. (2009) studied this question.
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